Dear Bedbugger,

I have received several relatively minor bites in the past two months, averaged approx. 2 bites every two weeks. Each time, I have woken up around dawn, scratching the bites. Every time I think it's been a week or two since the bites and I must be safe, I seem to get a few more.

I've ripped the bed apart several times, have checked all the furniture, the picture frames, the books (I have a pretty small place). I have had ClimbUp Interceptors in place for one year and have not caught anything beyond what was tentatively identified as a book louse and definitely a carpet beetle or two and a spider. I installed Passive Detectors one month ago and see no signs of activity. Thirty-six hours ago, I set up a flea trap and have not yet caught anything.

Today, I scratched this bug out of my hair (although I do not have a bite there).

I hope that an expert might be able to provide some insight on this pest, although I recognize that it may or may not be the culprit of the mystery bites.

Also, I recognize that the insect is pretty mangled from me scratching it off my head, so I am reaching out with understanding of limitations.

Just trying to get some footing here, as I take the advice given here that treating without any identification is generally fruitless and inadvisable. Also, I don't want to be the tenant that cried bug bites without any evidence.

Thank you very much for everyone's time and assistance. The existence of this supportive community is very helpful for those of us with the mystery bites.

20151014_183522, on Flickr

14Oct12, on Flickr

14Oct01, on Flickr

14Oct02, on Flickr

14Oct03, on Flickr

14Oct04, on Flickr

14Oct05, on Flickr

14Oct06, on Flickr

14Oct07, on Flickr

14Oct08, on Flickr

14Oct09, on Flickr

14Oct10, on Flickr

14Oct11, on Flickr

So after numerous posts on here which turned out to be nothing I now have bed bugs.

After months of my friends and family getting fed up with me, and thinking I had numerous skin problems, I'm actually living in a house with bed bugs.

One part of me can't believe it. I feel like I willed them into being through all my paranoia. The other part of me knew it would happen eventually because my life seems to be falling to pieces.

Last month I moved into a new apartment in Spain. Before moving I asked the landlady if the building had any history of bed bugs. He response was ' no, I wouldn't choose to live in a dirty slum'. Obviously, she knows little about bed bugs but I didn't push it. I checked the house extensively and didn't find any evidence except a dried shell of a mystery bug (I posted the pic here and it was negatively IDed). However, for a few weeks I've been getting weird non-itchy pimples in places I never do, so I've been a bit more vigilant. Today I decided to check all the mattresses in the house and on my flatmates mattress I found a bug, a cast, and fecal matter. I didn't handle it well.
Although everyone seems to think living abroad is so glamorous and holiday-like, I don't have any savings or even a job that pays well enough to deal with this. The landlady is likely to try to say we brought them in (even though she stayed in that room herself after coming from London, and she'd been renting the house out with AirBnB) and make us pay for treatment. If we try to leave we will be out of pocket because we have signed a 9 month contract (I don't have enough money to leave anyway) which say we have to PAY OUT the contract if it can't be taken over by other tenants.

Does anyone know anything about the legal stuff surrounded landlords/tenants/bbs in Spain? Or the best way to deal with things here? My Spanish is not good enough to deal with something like this, I've just started a new job, my friends and family are miles away, I really don't know how to start.

Posting a picture since I've had so many false alarms people will probably think it's not BBs.

A couple years ago, my family and I moved into an apartment after selling our house. We lived in the apartment for several years and during that time we picked up bedbugs. It was either from the neighbors (we lived in row home apartments) or they brought in by one of us. (Who knows)

I knew better, but my mother said "We won't take them with us and if we do, I'll have them removed from the new place". Well obviously, that wasn't a good idea. After a week or so at the new place, I could tell we still had bedbugs and they were as strong as ever.

My brother told me "Since they're not affecting me, I'm not too worried about it". From there I decided I'd have to fight this alone since no one else cared and I was the primary one being bit.

I decided to cake my baseboards with D.E. and just try to make it without complaining too much, as all my complaints fell on deaf ears. Well, finally just last night my brother's girlfriend needed to adjust the crib that their 7 month old baby sleeps in. And guess what was found hiding out in part of that crib? Yup, a whole litter of bedbugs. Now finally, my brother says he'll do something about it (calling an exterminator) when he gets his taxes back in the new year. I could've paid for this myself a few months ago since I had a little extra cash from selling an old car of mine, but mom decided the quote was too pricey (We don't have much money). But now he'll have to foot the bill and in the process kiss away his entire tax refund since the treatment won't be cheap.

I guess for those in denial, the shock factor has to be introduced somehow for them to understand the real issue. Bedbugs aren't the only thing in life where this is true, but denial is one ugly mofo.

http://tinypic.com/r/6rhobo/8

This is my mattress encased. It's the only thing I see after believing to have brought a bedbug home 7 weeks ago.

I took a wet q tip and rubbed it but nothing happened - as if it were on the inside?

Thank you.

Can a loveseat and chair be saved? I have a light infestation that i posted about two weeks ago. I have had two treatments and the PCO said that he saw no signs on the loveseat and chair. I have not seen any bugs on the loveseat and chair....but my son fell asleep on it and had two "bites" show up on his arm two days later. The furniture was treated and I have been inspecting it with nervousness. The pco will be back in two weeks to check again. I have only had this furniture for 5 months. I can not afford new furniture, but I am so afraid of having an ongoing problem with these bugs. I want to throw it out, but where will we sit then. The bed and sofa is in the same room. My funds are very low😥 extreme sadness. What can I do?

So I was decontaminating items tonight in my PackTite 2 after traveling and didn't realize that my thermometer probe had accidentally fallen out of my items. I realized that it had fallen to the very far back of the unit with the probe touching the bottom/floor. Not a big deal, except, that I noticed then that the max temp there was only 101 degrees after about 2 hours of running. I then placed the probe back into the center of my items and they were at the lethal kill temps, but my concern is that a stray bug could wander or fall into to this back area of the unit and hangout just fine on the floor until the machine is turned off. There is a seam in the cover fabric in this spot too that feels like it could be a nice little respite for them to escape the heat. No tears in the cover or anything by the way.

I am probably missing some sort of science here. Is it because the probe was touching the cover surface and reading the surface temp of that and perhaps the air temp surrounding it is still reaching lethal temps and that's what matters? I have been using a Packtite in some form for 6 years and have placed my full faith in it, but this concerns me.

Anyone have any insight or thoughts?

Just want to start off by apologizing if any of this is straight forward. I dont know a single thing about bugs so this is all very scary and nerve wracking to me.

I never had a problem with bugs in my room in the years that I've been living here. About two months ago I upgraded my bed size but was a little short on money so a friend of mine gave me their old one. Ever since I took in this bed I was getting random bites left and right. There was so many of them and it only seemed to happen when I slept. My girlfriend who sleeps in the same bed as me was never bitten once. I assumed it was bed bugs... every one tried to convince me it wasnt. I called up an extermination business down the road from me and they told me to come pick up a spray they would ready for me to use on my bed and to put baby powder on it. Did that numerous times as well as clean my whole entire room top to bottom. One day I saw my dog staring at my pillow and not moving an inch, I walked over to him to see what he was looking at and I saw what you can see in the first and second photo of this album.

http://imgur.com/a/gP4l4

Tried comparing pictures of it to pictures of bed bugs on google and they looked relatively similar to me. So that was that. Threw out the mattress and went back to my old one. I was good for about 2 weeks and then yesterday I saw one in my closet walking along one of my shirts. Killed it and hoped that was the last of them. This morning my arm and neck were itchy and noticed I was bitten 3 times, then I felt something crawling on my neck, smacked it and took a picture of it when it fell to my pillow. (last photo in the album)

I have no idea if these even are bed bugs and I have no clue what to do from here on out. I know this probably sounds like every other story on this forum and I apologize for that. But I'm losing my mind in this house trying to figure out the culprit. I dont feel comfortable in my room anymore and that saddens the hell out of me.

Any help will be appreciated. This is my first time dealing with all this so you guys definitely know more than I do. Thank you!

I've been reading this forum from when my bedbug nightmare started in July and just wanted to share my story with you all.
After my divorce, I decided it would do me some good to take a 10 day trip to Austin (as it's my favourite place in the US) in July. I subletted a room on craigslist (had done it in the past and my experience had been awesome...not this time though...) in a pretty nice building, everything brand new, looked clean and all. On the first morning I woke up with one bite, I didn't worry a bit, I thought it was a mosquito, this went on for 5 days (each morning one bite), I bought mosquito repellent, still bites...At the end of the week, I woke up with 3 bites in a row (typical pattern for bedbugs but i didn't have any clue about bedbugs back then, lucky me...) on my butt (sorry!) so i started to worry and understood it couldn't be mosquitoes as I didn't sleep naked obviously. Next day, the word bedbug (as I had heard about the big bedbug problem in NYC in 2010) started ringing in my mind, I googled it and then totally freaked out! I changed my flight ticket in the morning, arrived in France in the early evening of the same day, i couldn't stay in that place and didn't feel like exploring the city anymore.
When I got off the plane, I went straight to the laundromat (not wanting to enter my apartment and contaminate it), washed everything in the hottest temperatures, I freaked out so much that i threw away my suitcase and even my camera (and several days later ended up throwing even my tablet as i was so scared they would be in it - cause it often was on my bed during the vacation).
I took what I thought were extreme precautions before even entering my apartment and still...
10 days later (as it corresponds for an egg to hatch) a bite appeared on my arm...I knew they were there. I've been thinking about it over and over for 2 months and the only mistake i could have made is that the cycle of the laundromat was too short to kill all the eggs (only 35 minutes).
Immediately i called the company with the specialized dog and it detected indeed a presence in my clothes cupboard. I had the PCO come 2 days after and spray my whole bedroom. So far I had 4 treatments cause i was still getting bites after the 2nd and even 3rd treatment.
This is crazy, especially as i took care of the problem right away (cause I couldn't stop thinking about it and was in the lookout for any bites or marks on my body). I had the woman with the dog come back for the 3rd time(for free cause this story is costing me a leg and an arm as in France the renter has to pay for everything, i spent more than 1000 euros in treatments and dog searching + everything i threw away, it represents thousands of dollars/euros, most expensive vacation ever!) this week and the dog didn't quite find any trace of bedbugs but still, I've still had bites so I've been sleeping at someone else's apartment for a week as i can't stand sleeping in my room without sleeping pills as I'm so terrified of these monsters. They are literrally the devil. And I have a son that I'm doing everything to protect, i don't want him in this apartment anymore until I'm 100 percent sure there are no longer any bedbugs. I know now i have to come back and find the courage to sleep in my room to see if some are still hiding or not, I am so scared (cause deeep down i think a few are still there, as i still had bites after the 4th treatment)...I have to go and do it tonight...
Just please, take no offense but please stop trying to manage this problem by yourself cause you're making these monsters more resistant. And it only makes it a bigger problem for all of us. I know it's expensive (I'm only a teacher, i don't earn a lot of money, but i know this was too big a problem for me to fix it by myself). The PCO told me it's the first time they have to spray 4 times (and i don't have a lot of them, took the problem at the earliest stages, I don't see them, i just saw one stage apple seed dead, that's it) cause the problem is not that common in France but these American bedbugs are resistant to insecticides, this is the worst and scariest part.
I wish luck to everyone having to deal with this problem, I still love the US but I think I will be too scared (and broke!) to ever travel there (or anywhere else) again (and my passsion was traveling to the US, how ironic!), even if, unfortunately, I could have gotten them from anywhere (from the bus home or the movie theater next door...), without traveling that far, this is terrifying, this fear will never leave me I know that for sure. Good luck to evryone.

Hello, I have previously posted in this forum because I was worried that I brought home some BBs from my boyfriends place, which is infested. Well the situation has changed, I have caught a live bed bug at home in one of my homemade traps. I have started to call some PCOs in my areas, but I really need some help to choose one. I live in Montreal and have read the thread on recommended Montreal PCOs, and I have called some of them. Here is my summary.

Extermination Centrale: Recommended here and lots of good reviews, but they are only available to treat in 11 days since they are very busy. (is time a very important concern?). They do two treatments, with a 6 months guarantee.

Pestroy: Felt good vibes from the lady that answered my call. They can come in 8 days (I took the appointment with them for now). 3 months guarantee, two treatments. Cost about 595$ (I live in a single family home). Heard some good reviews.

Maheu: They can come next week, but they cost 1100$. 6 months guarantee. Generally recommended in my area.

Debbie Expert: I really need help for this one. This lady seems to have a good reputation, but I don't know whether I should trust her or not. Like others on this website have said, she claims to solve the problem in a single treatment, but she said she would probably spend most of the day at my home. 1 YEAR guarantee. She works alone I think, not part of a big company, but she is recommended by a local university and has generally good reviews. One thing that I found peculiar is that she said to bag up clothing and linens, but NOT to wash them before treatment because she has to treat the laundry room before. I already started washing my stuff a week ago, so I don't know what to do about that, but she said to remove anything that is in on the closet floor. She also said to not move anything in the house so that she can go through it herself. She said to leave un-washable clothing hanging in the closets. She is sort of cocky and claims no bed bug can survive her, which could be a good or a bad thing. Cost: 1100$ or 1500$ if I ask for a receipt. The advantage is that she can come quickly.

Please let me know what you think, I am very desperate and unwell psychologically right now.

Thank you so much

This has been going on since the end of August. I received many bites that lead to the discovery of two bed bugs. The PCO came, and didn't find anything, not a thing. However, they did come and treat the next week. The PCO came a week after that to inspect, and for the first time, saw 1 bug. He inspected again a week after that, and found nothing, although I had found a couple more. Then, a week and a half later, they treated again, and the inspector found 2 bugs. In total, 10 bugs and 1 cast skin have been found since 8/28.

Yesterday, 10/14, they finally inspected the apartments around, above, and below me. Of course, they found absolutely no signs of bed bugs in anyone elses apartments. This is driving me crazy. Has anyone experienced anything like this?

http://tinypic.com/r/6pvjiw/8

Found this on the side of my bed, possible shell?

I have been asked to create a "test" thread. I hesitate to add more threads to the green stickies, but this will keep the test thread from bouncing up in "latest discussions".

Feel free to test any forum functions below. If you need help on how to do something, remember there's a FAQ about the forums (aka How to use the forums) -- also in the green stickies if you ever need to locate it. That thread is a list of common questions including basic functionality (quoting, posting an embedded image, etc.) which you can reference.

You can post questions about functionality below if you are having trouble after "testing" and looking up instructions in the FAQ.

However, please do not post actual questions about bed bugs or images requiring a response below-- for this, please start a new, regular discussion thread with a label relating to its topic.

Enjoy!

Hello, I need help dealing with a situation with bed bugs. 6 weeks ago my 3 yr old daughter came up with some bite marks. For two weeks we were not sure what it was, whether it was allergy or whether something was biting her at the playground. We took her to the doctor and all he said was looks like bites. The one night I found a bed bug on her sheet. Next day I immediately cleaned her entire room along with her mattress. I have a strong vacuum and it pulled out everything including what may have been a very small infestation. I did not check whether it was. I did thorough vacuuming including baseboards, closets etc. and the room looked clean. I have never dealt with bed bugs before and I did not bother to get more information. I cleaned up her room like I would for any other bug and then made her sleep there. Someone suggested I buy a mattress encasement so I did that.

Her mattress is on the floor, no bed. She started sleeping there again and after a few days the same bite marks. We moved her to my room and I slept in hers. I caught couple of bed bugs over the next 2 days. I started doing research on the internet and kept cleaning her room.

I realized as per my contract I have to contact my apartment property manager. It does not clearly specify who will pay for the next steps. My apartment manager sent a Terminix guy who looked like he was not interested at all in my problem. He looked under her mattress, our living room couch and my bed and said there was no infestation. He said at the max he will suggest doing some preventive chemical spraying around the baseboards next week and then he will come back after 7 to 10 days to look again.

I was not satisfied with the answer and I asked him to check closets and dressers. He said that the first thing they would infest is bed and if they are not in the bed, there are probably very few hiding under baseboards and the preventive chemical spray will take care of the issue.
I am not sure that preventive chemical spray will take care of the issue. He was not earning my trust by not showing any interest in my problem. My questions are:

1. I asked my apartment manager to also check the neighbor’s apartment. She refused. Aren’t the neighbors supposed to be made aware of if there are bugs in the neighboring apartment? Moreover what if my neighbor(s) have bugs themselves but are not seeing it because they don’t feel the bites?

2. I have not spoken to the manager yet, but I don’t know who will cover the costs. Knowing this management, they are surely going to send the bill to me. I am willing to pay if these are mu bugs and not the neighbors, but how will I know if these are not neighbor’s bugs?

3. I want to have a K9 check. I think I can pay on my own and get it done. But then I will end up double paying for Terminix guy’s treatment and also the canine guy? What should I do?

I am a little lost. Any help will be appreciated.

Hello!

I just recently found out I have bed bugs, and am getting a chemical/powder treatment tomorrow evening, followed by a steam treatment next Wednesday. (Which as a subquestion; can anyone reliably tell me the efficacy of this? Obviously it does not always solve the problem, bu does it usually? Can it kill them in walls/carpet?)

Anyhow; before discovery, my roommate and I were previously out of town for about a half a week. Upon seeing them, we both couldn't sleep, so we left the house around 4 am for another night. Now, I am aware you cannot leave for too long, but tonight my roommate left me alone. I tried to force myself to sleep, but when I got up to go to the restroom, I found one walking up my comforter. That was enough for me; another sleepless night wouldn't do, so I hightailed it to a friends.

My worry now is if this prolonged absence will affect the treatments/make them move? We are in an apartment complex, and I would hate for them to move to another room etc. I wouldn't think that two nights would make too much of an effect (especially considering they were trying to feed on me just tonight), but am I right on that?

To add ANOTHER question to this; yesterday, we cleaned house completely and vacuumed everything/sprayed a tea tree oil solution about our rooms. (I also found a bottle of store-bought "bed bug killer;" I know this is a big no, but the roommate did not. She may have sprayed the entire apartment yikes!) Will THIS drastically affect the treatment at all, as well? Or will the steam treatment coupled with a powder effectively rid of them still?

Thank you to anyone who can answer any of these questions; no need to answer all three if you don't know!

I just recently discovered my infestation but it is causing my mental and physical health to deteriorate within 5 days of the 1st treatment t. I feel so alone in this fight with my family not understanding the severity of the situation (even though it was assured by my pco that my situation was a minor one) by taking extra precautions.

I feel like I cannot go out, fear of sitting on the bus, fear of hugging friends and family, fear of going to people's houses. Basically I'm having a fear of being social. When I'm at home I'm locked in my room. I don't eat or drink. Just shower, get ready and leave for when I have to.

I just need someone to talk to. I feel desperate and suicidal. Why did it have to happen to me? I know I am whining but I feel a sense of hopelessness. Just graduated from university and waa beginning to adjust to my new future. But this is causing me to become severely depressed and isolated.

Ok so long story short.

Last summer I lived in rented accommodation and had a very minor infestation of bedbugs in my bedroom. Shared with 3 other people, they never got bitten nor was there any evidence it had spread. I caught it very early and was very diligent - all treated (David Cain's company), used passive monitors etc. Contract then ended on that property and I moved somewhere else - didn't carry any bedbugs with us, all fine. The experience did nearly push me over the edge though - I am allergic to the bites and it drove me crazy. No sleep for a month.

On Wednesday I moved again to a rental property - a semi-detached house. I was the second of my housemates to arrive - one had unpacked her belongings into the bedroom, and I carried all mine up to mine. I started unpacking, and once I got all the suitcases/bags etc off the bed I noticed a lot of fecal staining. The bed was new in March 2014. I looked and immediately saw 2 dead (fed) adult bugs (100% sure from my previous experience). Immediately rang the estate agents in horror - they said they knew nothing about it but moved v quickly organising treatment. Was sprayed yesterday - he said it was a heavy infestation. Adults, nymphs, eggs etc. I've dried all my clothes on high for 30 minutes as I'd already unpacked them into the wardrobes/drawers etc (took them out as soon as I could). We currently have all of our possessions downstairs in boxes/bags, where there is no obvious evidence of bedbugs. We have slept in the three remaining rooms for 2 nights and so far, no bites (at least not on me).

I've emailed the previous tenants to say they should be aware (although I'm not sure how they missed it), and had no reply. Guessing they knew all along.

The landlord is providing me with a new bed as the old one was so horribly stained and infested. The PCO said that he would treat this new bed as normal on his further 2 treatments.

I'm just really really anxious. Finding it hard to concentrate at work (indeed, I've been on this website all morning), also going through a lot of personal issues (divorce) which is already completely emotionally draining. I'm trying to stay positive, and will get a passive monitor for the new bed, but need advice on anything else I can do. Thanks!

I'm so shocked this has happened to me again. Guessing it's just life!

Can anyone identify this creature? (It is pictured in a cup filled with water.)

https://m.flickr.com/photos/136956856@N07/22018094489/

Thank you very much!

I know this is not a bed bug, but can someone pls tell me what it is? Thank you.

Hello
I am hoping this is just me freaking out from all the horror stories I have heard.

A few months ago I got a bite or two on my arm, and noticed my bed frame had some things on it, by things I think is a combination of hair, lint, dust, dead skin, etc, not sure if any of it was BB, or other bugs and their droppings / eggs. Then, since I didn't get anymore consistent bites, and my relatively new mattress didn't have BB landmarks, I disregarded.

But recently I have been thoroughly cleaning up my room, and I noticed similar things around my bed frame. There were a few (~3) that looked like dead bugs, and some more were black or white, hard spherical items. The dead bugs were brown/dark brown, with horizontal ridges, couldn't really see any antennas or wings or any much more considering I don't know how long they have been there.

I am thinking it could be a coach nymph, or maybe carpet beetle, but just want to be sure.
I still don't get consistent bites, especially triple action ones; I maybe get one every one or two weeks, but even those I'm not sure if they occurred while I was sleeping. I don't recall ever seeing a live bug, no matter what time of day.

How can I tell the difference between random dust/dirt from potential insect/bug eggs or droppings. I'll try to remember to take a picture of the dead bugs if find any again. What should be my next step?

I am a lucky lady. It's been just over 100 days since spotting one BB in my bathroom, and I can pretty confidently say that in this case, I fall into the lucky as stars category of just having one darn bug in my apartment. Given the precautions I take and that this was in the bathroom, I was panicked that it traveled from another unit via the pipes and that my tier had an issue. It was a good test of my buildings response to this and, for the most part, I was satisfied. They took a monitor first before spray first which we did. They were calm and informed as well. All of my passives that were already in place, as well as the other traps the building gave remained clean and are still clean of any BBs. I am also a reactor and have had no bites at all. My attached neighbors appear to be fine as well and I had my building engineer I beat a light to medium infestation several years ago, as well, so I am tap dancing with joy that all I had was a rogue bug chillin' in the bathroom. Of course, I still monitor regularly and take precautions when out and about, but I thought I'd share my success in this instance. It's a rarer occurrence, but it can happen.